


Watchers in the Woods

by RiverTalesien



Series: On the Edge of Forever [2]
Category: The 100 (TV), clexa - Fandom
Genre: Do not repost anywhere without permission, F/F, F/M, Soulmates, The Anomaly - Freeform, the glowing forest, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22549972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverTalesien/pseuds/RiverTalesien
Summary: Part 2 in the On the Edge of Forever series.An alternate look at Clarke and Octavia visiting the Glowing Forest and finding more than phosphorescent butterflies.
Relationships: Clarke Griffin & Lexa, Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Series: On the Edge of Forever [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615417
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	Watchers in the Woods

The woman in the dark coat was peeling a piece of fruit and swatting at the butterflies. 

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Lincoln shook his head. “They’re children. Harmless.”

“And where are these _harmless children_ going?”

Lincoln was silent for several moments, his focus falling to his boots.

“They speak of Mt. Weather.”

The Commander nodded, her knife sliding smoothly through the yellow fruit in her hand. Laying the slice on the side of her knife, she placed it to her lips. 

“That does seem to be their direction.”

“Two of them have been separated from their group. They’re near.”

The Commander straightened from her post against the blue-green tree and dropped the remains of the fruit on the ground. Butterflies swarmed it. “They’ll be drawn to it. We need to steer them away.”

“I thought you wanted to question them.” 

The Commander turned her gaze to the opening of the forest when she heard the faint voices carried on the breeze.

“Steer first. Questions later.” 

The tall man nodded and followed the Commander as she moved quietly among the trees, both careful not to make a sound. 

^^^

“What did I tell you? This place is insane. What do you thinks causing it?”

Clarke Griffin followed the younger girl with dark hair into the woods, her eyes wide as saucers as she took in the glowing blue and green around her.

“Radiation? Some kind of natural phosphorescence? I don’t know.”

The dark-haired girl pointed to a concentration of blue emanating from deep within the forest.

“I think it’s coming from that…whatever it is.”

“What the hell?”

Ahead of them, they could see the outlines of it, murmuring through its constant pulse; like an overwhelming swarm of… _something_ , frozen in time and space.

“Look at the trees over there, and the leaves: it’s like everything has stopped.”

Clarke felt a stirring in her gut, not the usual warnings it generally gave her, but of something else. 

_Why am I not afraid?_

“Look at these butterflies, Clarke. They’re so beautiful.”

“Don’t mess with anything, Octavia.”

But Clarke was already moving closer to the oddity, marveling at the glow of the forest around her, feeling drawn in, safe, even.

“I think I hear voices…like, a radio? Do you hear it?”

Octavia caught up with her and both paused to hear. A woman’s voice, scratchy and distant, drifted on the air.

_Temporal corridor 431 closed. Temporal corridor 432…open._

And then more voices, overlapping. 

_People die when you’re in charge._

_We don’t need redemption we were trying to survive._

_Those who are about to die will say anything._

_I know you, Clarke. What you’ve done haunts you._

At the mention of her name, Clarke paused, stunned, and took several steps back.

“That sounded like Bellamy and Jaha…I don’t know the others. Clarke?”

The voices were becoming a cacophony now, almost gibberish, overwhelming.

“Daddy?”

^^^

“They’re getting too close, Heda. Do you want me to stop them?”

From her perch in the tree, The Commander had been staring at the blonde one, as if mesmerized. Lincoln tapped her on the arm.

“Lexa?”

She nodded her head and Lincoln leapt from tree to tree, carefully navigating the heaviest branches, until he was some distance from the two women on the ground. Then he unshouldered his bow, notched an arrow and fired it just in front of them. Startled, they backed off, trying to ascertain where the arrow came from, when he fired two more near them. He could hear one shout at the other to run, and they fled the way they came.

Lincoln had just a moment to re-shoulder his bow before he noticed the Commander had set off through the trees, following the other two from above, till they reached the clearing and were out of sight.

“Heda!”

Lexa had dropped to the ground, breathing heavily, staring in the direction of the strangers. Lincoln dropped gracefully beside her, waiting. 

“Heda? What is it?”

Turning to the taller man, she remained silent and strained, an air of anxiety around her, but strode off in the direction of the “oddity.” 

The blue light pulsed brighter and faster as they approached, slowing to a full stop at its border. 

“What do you see, Lincoln?”

The tall man said nothing, gazing into the whirling abyss and Lexa nodded. 

“She’s there, isn’t she?” 

Lincoln shook his head, disbelieving. 

“It’s her. The same one. The one I always see…Octavia.”

Lexa stepped closer, the light touching her now, the voices just a dull hum to her ears. 

“Clarke.” 

The faces that greeted them in the light were beckoning, but neither dared to move. 

“Follow them, but don’t interfere.”

^^^

“Clarke! Wait up!”

They had reached the far side of the clearing, out of breath; Octavia scanned around them to see if they were followed.

“We’re not alone, Clarke, there are _people_. We’ve got to get back, tell Bellamy and the others --”

Clarke was staring at the forest, eyes wide with horror or longing.

“I saw my dad. He was there. I saw him. I heard his voice. That… _thing_ did it…something. He was there.” 

“You were hallucinating. That thing was messing with our heads.”

Clarke turned to her, sharp.

“Didn’t you see anything? You heard the voices. Octavia, we didn’t share the same hallucination.” 

Octavia was shaking her head, refusing to entertain whatever Clarke might be suggesting.

“It was just some weird anomaly, Clarke, like some…magnetic interference, picking up radio signals or something.”

“Radio signals from where, O? Who is broadcasting? How did you hear your brother’s voice? Jaha? We weren’t hallucinating.” 

Octavia raised and dropped her hands, lost for an explanation. 

Clarke stepped closer to the other girl, grasping her wrist.

“How are there people here? How is it we got dropped, here, of all places, and nothing is what we thought it was? It isn’t magic. Some measurable, physical phenomenon is at work and we’re going to have to go back.” 

“What if those arrows were to keep us away from it?” 

Clarke shook her head, defiant. “We haven’t gone through all we have just to be scared off now. We’ll go back, get the others, and make a plan. Whatever that thing is, it’s important.”

Octavia turned back to look at the trees, the faint glow still visible.

“I did see something.”

Clarke squeezed her hand. “What?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t anyone I recognized. He was tall, bald. Had a beard and…tattoos? Dark eyes. He was…different.”

They shared an unspoken thought: _everything is different._

“Let’s go.” 

They struck off back to the others as stars were dotting the night sky and Lincoln followed.

**Author's Note:**

> Second in the 1k word one-shots for this series. A little Black Mirror-y, but each has a connection to the other.
> 
> If you like, let me know, you can hmu on Tumblr @rivertalesien
> 
> Thanks so much for reading.


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